The LA Galaxy are dangerously close to wasting the Zlatan Ibrahimovic era

The Galaxy’s defending, which has been catastrophically bad, could wind up costing them a playoff spot.

The LA Galaxy are bad despite being good. That is, at this point, a widely known fact. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is probably better than anyone else in this league, the dos Santos brothers play for Mexico, and Perry Kitchen is a real, capable defensive midfielder. But the Galaxy are eighth and most likely won’t make the playoffs.

A real paradox. Except it’s not, really, because no one on that team can defend, an even more widely known fact. Michael Ciani, starting center-back, has no idea what to do when he receives the ball under any amount of pressure. Dave Romney, outside center-back in the back-three, has little athleticism of any notable kind. Jorgen Skjelvik, another center-back, flounders when an opposing player runs with the ball in his direction.

All of their problems came to the forefront last week, when Real Salt Lake hung six at the StubHub Center. It was another humiliation for the much-maligned Galaxy defense, which dutifully adds ammunition to its detractors with every disastrous performance. LA, scorers of 51 goals, third-most in the league, alternate between dominant attacking outputs and horrific backline showings. They often do both at once.

It would be painful for Sigi Schmid and co. to miss the Zlatan window. Ibra will turn 37 before the season’s over and won’t be around forever. He dominates everyone in his path, to an extent that even the obvious league MVP Josef Martinez can’t match. Possessing a superstar this commanding is rare; he’s so good that he makes it hard to lose, although LA have been impressively good at overcoming that.

You don’t get many shots with the likes of Ibra. They have other significant pieces in place, as well. Ola Kamara can score goals at a high level, as a poacher, as a channel-running lone forward, or as a Zlatan-supporting second striker. Giovani dos Santos was a Best XI caliber player once upon a time. Romain Alessandrini is a tenacious, skilled winger who is perpetually underrated. Jonathan dos Santos is a quality ball-mover in midfield.

Schmid, as experienced as anyone in MLS, has decided to focus solely on attacking and basically disregard defense, playing a 3-5-2 that tosses as many scorers and skill players as possible. When I wrote about it back on July 30, this is how I described it:

"Given Schmid’s long history of pragmatism and fairly straight-forward managerial style, the way his team is playing is surprising. LA have all sorts of tactical flaws, weaknesses that jump off the page watching them. Schmid’s teams were always more well-drilled and organized than this.This is a new kind of pragmatism for the Hall-of-Fame coach. He knows that his team will make too many mistakes defensively to rely on that side of the field, and he knows he has a surplus of attacking talent. Why not throw all those attackers out there and sacrifice some on the other end if they’re already going to give up goals? That’s how longtime wingers Alessandrini and Chris Pontius end up playing wing-back."

That pretty much remains true. Now, though, they aren’t winning games. They got KO’d on Aug. 18 by the Sounders, to the tune of 5-0, and they haven’t won since that nutty 4-3 victory over Orlando on July 29 that preceded (and inspired) the above article. It’s curious, because generally soccer teams that have the kind of attacking talent the Galaxy have, in addition to the crucial defensive midfielder, win games.

They run contrary to the theory that a combination of a defensive midfielder and a high-powered attack will almost always make you a good team. They do, however, act as the theory’s obvious caveat: You need a defense that can competently defend, or else you’re going to give up too many goals. Not having that will disjoint everything else — call it the Chad Marshall Theorem, as coined by MLS’s Bobby Warshaw.

The truth remains that the Galaxy’s window of contention, with an MLS Cup-caliber core, could be shuttered singlehandedly by the front office’s inability to construct an able backline. The Galaxy have spent more on defense than any team in MLS, and yet they routinely get roasted and have shown no willingness to try something new. None of LA’s young players, up and down the roster, have produced, an indictment of a vastly underachieving Homegrown system.

LA still might salvage a playoff berth from this season. More likely, they’ll put their chips in the 2019 basket, where the likes of Ciani and Skjelvik should be gone and Schmid may be as well. As an organization, they’ll have to do a lot of things better.

Whatever the case, the Galaxy will remain a fascinating paradox, one that takes full advantage of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s talents while simultaneously wasting them.